The Mission
by Cheyennes
Summary: Dalton manages to get himself shot on a mission and Jaz is left to tend to the wound. During that process he realizes just how important she has become to him.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I hope everyone has a Happy Easter! Chgrgal had requested some Adam whump so this was supposed to be a short story with that as it's sole focus. However, it quickly took on a life of it's own, and became longer than I had expected. I split it into two portions and will get the second one up soon. I hope you enjoy.

Dalton looked through the scope. Softly calling out wind speed and direction to Jaz so she could hit the difficult target. She was just about to pull the trigger when McG's voice sounded in their ears.

"A team of seven heavily armed hostiles has just entered your building!"

 _Just great,_ Dalton thought as Jaz made the tricky shot and took out the target.

He quickly stood and faced the only door down from the roof with his weapon drawn. Behind him Jaz was rapidly disassembling her sniper rifle. She touched his shoulder and they started to move forward toward the stairs back to back. Once they entered the stairway of the apartment building they could hear the footsteps coming up. Rapidly. They hit the stairs themselves, quickly and quietly, and stepped out onto the tenth floor. Pressing their ears against the door they listened to the pounding of feet as the enemy ran past their floor up the stairs. They entered the vacant apartment they had used earlier in the day for staging, grabbed the ropes they had tied to the balcony, and started rappelling down. They were close to the ground when the enemy caught on and started firing from above. Jaz watched in concern as Dalton dropped suddenly but relaxed when he returned to his normal pace.

When they reached the sandy ground they quickly disconnected from the ropes and headed out by foot. Dalton was just about to reach out to McG and Preach when a high pitched squeal came through their earpieces.

He turned to Jaz, "They're jamming us. Secondary plan. We need to use one of those spots we scoped out earlier."

Jaz moved quickly down the street with him while scanning the surrounding area for hostiles. Fortunately there weren't many people on the street which was to be expected considering the late hour. Dalton stopped at a pile of debris concealing a small window partially below the ground level. He continued to scan the alley while Jaz cleared their way and got the window open. The lock was child's play. She stepped back and motioned him to the window.

"It'll take you longer than me, Top."

He knew she wasn't kidding. It was going to be a tight squeeze if he could get his shoulders through at all. He removed his weapons, tactical vest, shirt, and holsters and tossed them inside before squeezing himself in. It was a tight fit that resulted in scrapes up and down his arms but he managed to drop to the floor of the root cellar. He was jealous of Jaz's much easier entry. Once she had a chance to put her weapon down, he picked her up around the waist so she could reach out and reorganize the debris and lock the window.

"Sucess," she said wiping her hands on her cargo pants with a smile.

"At least this has gone our way. We'll hang out here and wait until they either stop jamming our communications or DC breaks it," Dalton said.

It was chilly down in the basement so he put his shirt and vest back on. He was tired and a little dizzy. Maybe he was getting too old to be throwing himself off buildings and dodging bullets? He hoped not because he had no idea what he was going to do next. Get married? Have a family? He didn't feel like he was quite ready for settling down yet. Plus it would take a special woman to tie herself to him and stay there.

He looked around their surroundings and decided it wasn't such a bad place to be holed up. Much better than many of their past hiding spots. A little cold but otherwise clean and chock full of preserved food stuffs.

Jaz continued to stare towards the window as if she expected someone to come through it at any second. The look in her eyes said if they did they would be dead. While she focused her aggressions on potential dangers, he started looking through the supplies to see what they had available. It was always good to know what was at hand in case the mission officially became FUBAR.

"Top, what happened?!"

He turned around quizzically only to see her gaze fixed on fresh blood on the table he had been leaning against. Jaz stopped focusing on the window, or anything else for that matter, and quickly came to his side.

"Turn around."

"I'm fine, Jaz."

"Nothing about that table looks fine. Turn."

He did as instructed and heard the catch in her breathing.

"You were shot and you didn't tell me?!"

"Just a ricochet. I'll be fine until we get back to McG."

"Your "ricochet" has you bleeding like a stuck pig. Take the vest off again."

"I'm fine, Jaz."

"Either you take it off or I'll take it off for you. I know which one you would prefer."

Dalton looked her in the eye, "You do know I'm your CO, right?"

"I know and I'd like you to continue being my CO. Which you won't be if you bleed to death!"

"It's not that bad."

She was silent for a moment and he watched as she opened her mouth but closed it before saying anything. She took a few more seconds to gather her thoughts and dropped her gaze to the floor before finally saying what was on her mind.

"I can't do this again, Top," she said quietly.

He flashed back to seeing her covered in Elijah's blood and took the vest off for her without another word. It was a traumatic memory for the whole team and he knew she still had nightmares about it. They had spent many early morning hours awake processing their shared loss. If she needed to look at the wound he'd let her.

"Okay. Go ahead."

She raised his shirt and her small hands touched his side both above and below the entry wound. Blood was slowly draining out.

"We need to take care of this now."

"It's fine, Jaz."

"Stop saying "it's fine". Look closer."

He looked down and was surprised to see so much blood. Except for the original sting he hadn't had much pain. Now that he thought about it, he knew that wasn't a good sign.

"Are you cold, Jaz?"

"In Africa? No. Why? Are you cold?"

"A little."

"Top, it must be close to 80 degrees in here."

Her wounds confirmed that he must be in shock. It was a great thing when you needed to push through a mission but it was risky too. He'd seen too many buddies drop dead from severe injuries they didn't even know they had.

"Okay, Jaz. You win. What's going on down there?"

"I see an entry but no exit. The area is swollen and warm to the touch."

She walked around to face him, "I think I need to take the bullet out."

 _Doesn't that sound like fun_ , he thought to himself. She didn't look much happier about the prospect.

"Okay, get it done."

They all carried basic medical gear with them on a mission but unfortunately McG had all the good stuff. He watched as Jaz unpacked a small knife, tweezers, and a small head lamp so she could see what she was doing. She also gave him a piece of leather she carried. He knew it was to clamp his teeth down on because, as he anticipated, this was going to be fun. He turned to face the table gripping the edge of it so he wouldn't be tempted to push her away. Jaz crouched down between him and the table.

"Ready, Top?"

He nodded. Sweat broke out on his face as she began probing and nausea wasn't far behind. He used every trick he could think of to block the pain and had run out just as she announced her victory.

"I got it."

All he could do was be thankful it was over. He felt her wiping the area down and then she stepped away to get additional gauze.

"I'm going to bandage it tightly but leave it open for McG to look at, okay?"

He was more than agreeable to any plan that prevented her from poking into his skin more. He stepped back from the table to give her additional room to work. She got down on her knees in front of him and started wrapping the rolled gauze around him to keep the sponges in place over the wound. His thoughts wandered to inappropriate places as her hands touched his skin. This was more skin to skin contact than they had ever shared with one another. It made him think of other things they could be doing together.

She finally stood up to put away her supplies and encouraged him to take a seat on the floor. He was more than grateful to do so. Now that he knew about the severity of the injury it was affecting him much more. Jaz noticed he still looked cold and moved to sit next to him to share her warmth.

". . . hear us?"

It sounded like Noah's voice.

Jaz responded, "Limited signal. Please repeat."

They both waited but there was no response. Clearly getting communications up and running was a work in progress. She looked over at Top and realized he had paled and was sweating. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and urged him to put his head in her lap and stretch out on his back. He didn't even kick up a fuss about it which worried her plenty.

Now that his head was pillowed in her lap she wasn't sure what to do with her hands. Finally she placed one on his forehead to check his temperature and then moved it to check his pulse from the side of his neck. She didn't like the result of either.

 _McG, please come and save our bacon,_ she thought.

Top rested quietly with his eyes closed but the tension in his body reflected pain.

". . . hear us now?"

"Yes, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Sergeant. We have a fix on your location. You are underground, correct?"

"Yes. Top's been shot. We need McG."

"Current status?"

"I removed the bullet and bandaged the area so McG could look it over and stitch it. He lost a lot of blood before we realized he was injured and now he is warm to the touch and pale."

"Understood. Your team should be there in 15."

"Copy."

She broke the connection and looked down at Top placing her hand on his cheek.

"We should have help here soon," she told him.

He nodded his head in acknowledgement but kept his eyes closed. Jaz got lost in thought not realizing that she had started running her hand through his hair. He found it incredibly soothing. He sure wasn't going to tell her to stop.

"Jaz, we're just around the corner. We're waiting for the current searchers to dissipate. McG is coming to you while we secure egress," Preach's voice reassured.

"Copy."

She looked down and realized that Top had drifted off to sleep. She took the opportunity to run her hand down his face. His beard was so much softer than she had expected.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks for the all the reviews and favorites. I'm glad you liked the first half. Here is the final half as promised. :)

There was rustling at the window before McG shoved his pack inside and dropped down to the floor himself.

"Hey, Jaz."

She was so happy to see him that she had to blink away tears. But McG being McG dried them up pretty fast.

"Well, Top looks mighty comfy where he is right now. The two of you make a cute couple."

"Knock it off or I'll work on making your life difficult. I can play the jilted girlfriend every time you step off base. You'll be awfully lonely."

He shivered at the thought. He had no doubt Jaz could put a kink in any of his attempts to find female companionship. Deciding to keep his mouth shut for the moment, he dropped to his knees and opened his pack before lifting Top's shirt.

"Good job with the bandage. Walk me through what happened while I look him over."

"We were rappelling down the building when a bullet apparently hit something on the ground and a piece shot up and under his vest on that side. He didn't realize it had actually penetrated. Thought it was a graze. He wouldn't have told me about it but I saw all the blood."

"Were you surprised that he didn't plan to tell you? You guys are always telling me that you're fine even when you're bleeding like a sieve."

She had to admit that was true. It must be hard to be a medic to a team of hardasses. She had never thought of it that way before.

"There was no exit wound so I dug in after the bullet. I got it out with no issues but I didn't want to close it until you looked it over."

"You did a good job. I'm going to start an IV for fluids and pain medication. Once that's done I'll numb the area and close it up."

"Okay. I'll get out of the way."

"No, you can stay there. He looks comfortable and I have a good view at this angle. No reason to disturb him until the pain meds have kicked in."

She sat silently while he started the IV and got everything up and running. Once again she wasn't quite sure what to do with her hands especially now that they had an audience. She finally ended up resting them on the arm Top had closest to her.

"Jaz?"

"Yes, Top?"

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. You on the other hand are about to get your wound professionally closed."

He opened his eyes and she saw nothing but dilated pupils. She looked over at McG.

"How much pain medication did you give him?"

"Lots. You already dug around inside without medication so I thought he deserved to be really pain free this time."

She had no argument with that statement but was certain Top would want to be more aware of his surroundings.

McG cleaned the area thoroughly and she watched as he started to suture it closed. He was much calmer than she would have been. She was so glad she wasn't the one closing the wound.

"You're really pretty, you know?"

Jaz looked down and instinctively covered Top's mouth with her hand while McG chuckled.

"He isn't lying, Jaz."

"It doesn't matter. He wouldn't normally say something like that to me. It isn't fair to take advantage of him while he's drugged."

"It's not like you're stripping his clothes off."

"I know but it still isn't right."

Top reached up and pushed her hand away from his mouth.

"I don't say things I don't mean," he insisted.

She felt the heat of a blush and heard McG chuckle again.

"You two realize that we're all well aware of what is going on between you, right?"

"There is nothing going on," Jaz insisted.

"Sure. Late nights hanging out in the common area together on the couch, sitting next to each other at the picnic table looking at the stars, doing little things for each other to make your lives easier, and always looking at one another first when things go wrong. Yup, nothing going on there."

"He has a point, Jaz. Up until recently I had never given the whole family thing much thought, but if I could do it with anyone, it would be you."

"I know you're going to regret saying these things later, Top."

"Adam."

"Huh?"

"Call me by my name."

"Probably not a good idea."

"I'm a dying man. You should honor my final request."

McG was loving every second of their conversation while he was closing the wound. In real life neither of these two were smooth operators when it came to the opposite sex. It always amazed him just how good they were at playing a couple when undercover but how terrible they were when they were just being themselves. It was fun observing their conversation. Or would this classify as their mating ritual? He just knew he could get lots of use out of this later as blackmail. The rest of the guys were going to love hearing about it.

"Okay,. . . . Adam. I still stand by my previous statement that you're going to regret what you're saying."

He lifted the arm on his uninjured side just as McG started covering the sutures with a bandage. He took his hand and stroked it down her cheek.

"I'll regret nothing. I might not normally be able to act on my feelings but that doesn't mean that I don't feel them."

Jaz was taken aback. It was hard for her to believe what he was saying. He was too good for her and she knew it. Yes, she had come a long way since her childhood when she had felt like a worthless human being just because she was born a female. But that didn't mean she wasn't aware of her weaknesses. Connecting with people was hard for her. She had finally managed to build a deep connection with her team, but after she lost Elijah, she had found herself pulling away from them to protect her heart. She had never lost anyone she cared about before and it had messed with her more than she had expected.

But when her team had rescued her in Iran, that process had reversed itself, and she was more intertwined with them now than she had ever been with anyone in her life. It scared her. She had so much to lose now. Her life had been much less stressful when she only had to worry about herself. Back in those days she knew if she died no one would really care. But these men? They would care. They would mourn and she would do the same if something happened to them. But she had to acknowledge to herself that losing Top would likely destroy her.

"How are you feeling, Top?" McG asked.

"Pretty darn good."

"Excellent. Time to go home."

Jaz helped McG get Top into a seated position and together they got him to his feet. He wasn't very steady.

"See, McG. I told you. Way too much medication."

"I'll handle getting him up the stairs if you're willing to take point."

"Nothing I'd like better."

She gave him her pistol and look his long gun.

"Preach, we're ready to come to you," McG reported.

"Okay. Amir did get the residents out of the house so you are good to come out the front as planned."

"Great. I'm not sure we could have gotten Top out the window. We're starting the stairs now. See you in five."

Jaz pulled her gun up and walked to the door leading to the main level of the house. It was locked but she made quick work of it. She took a step out and cleared the rooms one by one returning once she was sure they would be safe.

"Clear," she called out to him.

McG was supporting most of Top's weight as they walked up the stairs and onto the main level. Jaz escorted them to the front door where Amir was quickly pulling up with their ride. She walked back and quickly relocked the basement door. The goal was for the occupants to never even know they were there. In this case the blood that had soaked into the basement table could have made that impossible. Fortunately for them, she was able to knock over a jar of pickled beets that soaked into the wood and obscured the blood stain completely.

It was pitch black outside as they carefully walked Top toward the van. A few minutes later Jaz found herself alone in the back of the vehicle with him. She wasn't sure how that happened. She looked down at Top's head pillowed in her lap once more.

"McG, are you sure you don't need to be back here to keep an eye on him?" Jaz asked.

"No, he just needs rest and time to heal. Just relax. We have a long drive ahead of us."

Not what she wanted to hear. If Top kept talking to her like he had been, the way he did in her dreams, it might break her heart when things returned to normal. Fortunately for her he slept through most of the early part of the trip. Once he was awake it was clear discomfort was setting in. Not surprising considering the condition of the "roads". She found herself stroking her hands through his hair again since it seemed to make the lines of tension on his face relax. She was surprised when he took one of her small hands in his larger one and kissed the back of it before pulling it to his chest.

"Get some rest, Jaz. You've been up longer than the rest of us," he instructed her.

She shook her head, "I'll sleep when we get home."

Dalton stroked his thumb gently across the back of her hand watching her closely. She had been awake for almost a full 24 hours and somehow she had managed to complete the mission, care for his wound successfully, and assist with their escape. She was a hard person to take care of.

"Do any of you have a blanket?" he asked his team.

After some rustling around, McG leaned over the back seat and handed one to Jaz. Dalton looked up at her.

"I'm going to change position and sit between you and the backseat."

Jaz didn't blame him. Laying flat on his back on these "roads" had to be uncomfortable. Plus he couldn't see anything coming from his current position. She helped him up and he was soon sitting hip to hip with her. He covered them both with the blanket since it was getting chilly in the higher elevations they were traveling.

"Sure you're okay, Top?"

"Just a little cold but the pain meds are still taking the edge off."

"I bet," she said with a smile. He had certainly been given enough medication and he was still acting like he was under the influence.

Dalton saw her stifle a yawn about two hours later. Now that they weren't doing anything, exhaustion was setting in. Based on McG's snoring the rest of the team up front was taking turns catnapping too. He slid an arm around Jaz's waist. She stiffened at first but then relaxed. He pulled her closer to his uninjured side until her head rested against his shoulder. Over time he felt the tension slowly leave her body and she melted into him. He rested his cheek on top of her head. All was right in his world. Suddenly he realized that he never wanted there to be a time when he wouldn't be a part of her life. When exactly had that happened? The little ninja had snuck her way into his heart and he was sure she didn't even know. Heck, he had just realized it himself. The rest of the trip was spent plotting out the most important mission of his life.

Four Years Later

Jaz and Adam were making the biggest decision of their lives. The funny thing was that they were both at peace with it. Not a single doubt. They had already been to see McG, Amir, and Preach individually at their homes and had received nothing but heartfelt congratulations and wishes for a happy future. Of course the three men were well aware that over the last three years Jaz and Adam had become a couple. In fact they had prodded and corralled the two of them in that direction. Apparently they had been taking too long getting to that point on their own. Later they learned that there had been a bet of some sort amongst the rest of them. Something to do with how long it would take them to realize they belonged together. Since they were holding up the payout, each member of the team started trying to maneuver them to make sure they would win the challenge. McG ultimately won which was something he still lorded over the rest of them to this day.

The transition to being a couple had been seamless. They had managed to walk the tightrope of being on the same team, following the military chain of command, without letting that spill over into their off-duty lives. Adam was the boss when they were deployed and she was the boss when they were back in the States. It might seem like a weird arrangement but it worked for them. They weren't exactly a traditional couple.

As they stepped off their plane in DC they were both surprised to see Director Campbell waiting for them. They walked over to her and noticed the warm smile on her face.

"Adam. Jaz. It's good to see you."

"Patricia, this is a surprise. I thought we were meeting in your office tomorrow."

"We are, Adam, but not for the reason you're thinking. It has come to my attention that you both are planning to leave the military."

"It has, huh?"

"Yes. I think sometimes you forget that I'm now the Director of the DIA. Not too much gets by me including when two of my operators become a team off the field as well as on."

Adam looked over at Jaz who was looking at Patricia in shock. He had told her that he doubted their relationship was a secret but she hadn't believed him. She figured if anyone knew the truth they would have been placed on separate teams. It was a situation neither of them wanted. Thus the decision to leave the military behind.

"You don't need to resign your commissions. You are two of this country's best and for more than three years you have managed your personal and professional lives beautifully. When we meet tomorrow we are going to talk about how to best accommodate your new situation. Assuming you both want to stay."

Adam knew that they both loved what they did and that they would be more than happy to stay in the field. He could tell Jaz was ecstatic that this was an option for them. They both thrived on action and adrenaline.

Patricia walked over to Jaz and looked her in the eye, "I understand congratulations are in order."

Jaz's smile lit up her whole face. It was one of the few times Patricia had seen her blissfully happy and she watched as Adam's joy lit his face as well. It would be interesting to see how these two tackled their biggest operation yet: parenthood.

"Come see me tomorrow and we'll iron out the details of how to move forward. You both deserve happiness and I'm going to do my absolute best to make sure you get it."


End file.
